Book contents
- The Quest for Security
- The Quest for Security
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Colonial Federationism, Security, and the South African War
- 2 Lessons of South Africa: Security and Political Culture in the British World, 1902–1906
- 3 Security, Race, and Dominion Status, 1907–1909
- 4 The Collapse of Consensus and Control, 1910–1914
- 5 Race, Conscription, and the Meaning of Sovereignty in War
- 6 The Sharp Sickle: New Realities of Sovereignty in the British Empire, 1918–1926
- Epilogue: The Statute of Westminster – A Once and Future Sovereignty
- Select Bibliography
- Index
5 - Race, Conscription, and the Meaning of Sovereignty in War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2019
- The Quest for Security
- The Quest for Security
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Colonial Federationism, Security, and the South African War
- 2 Lessons of South Africa: Security and Political Culture in the British World, 1902–1906
- 3 Security, Race, and Dominion Status, 1907–1909
- 4 The Collapse of Consensus and Control, 1910–1914
- 5 Race, Conscription, and the Meaning of Sovereignty in War
- 6 The Sharp Sickle: New Realities of Sovereignty in the British Empire, 1918–1926
- Epilogue: The Statute of Westminster – A Once and Future Sovereignty
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 5 takes the narrative to the outbreak of the First World War, and compares the colonial response to the mobilization for South Africa at the beginning of the book. The chapter focuses mainly on conscription, the ultimate expression of state sovereignty over individuals, and the way conscription forced a reckoning with unresolved political questions across the empire. It covers the fraught attempts by the British government to resolve the racial exceptions listed in Military Service Act 1916, and the debates in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada about whether to follow in Britain’s footsteps on their own unprecedented military manpower problems.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Quest for SecuritySovereignty, Race, and the Defense of the British Empire, 1898–1931, pp. 191 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019